24/7 Wall St. » The Week

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (T, ADP. BBY, CHK, DNDN, ETFC, JCP, JPM, GS, MS, JEF, KLAC, LIFE, MCD, KORS, NFLX, VPRT, ZNGA)

Administrator — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:19:53 +0000

This last week brought many new analyst calls in key stocks. At the end of each week we review research calls looking for the best gems, the calls that made serious money for investors, and we also look for the duds which were wrong or just stood apart from the crowd.

The 24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week were in shares of the following: AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T); Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE: ADP); Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY); Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC); J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF); KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC); Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE); McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD); Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE: KORS); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); Vistaprint NV (NASDAQ: VPRT); and Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA).

We have covered these in more detailed summaries below and some of these will have links to broader coverage calls.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) has been a bit under pressure and frankly its earnings did not help the situation for the bulls despite some positive metrics. Now there is a bit more caution as the stock was reinstated in coverage on Friday at Credit Suisse: with a NEUTRAL and a mere $30.00 price target. This was one of Jim Cramer’s 4 FAVORITE DJIA PICKS FOR 2012 and it is the highest yield of the DJIA.

Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (NYSE: ADP) met its second quarter earnings estimates this last week but apparently there are some valuation concerns despite the CFO seeing some continued positive trends in the economy. On Thursday there were two downgrades: Cut to NEUTRAL at Citigroup and Cut to MARKET PERFORM at Wells Fargo. Shares were around $57.oo pre-earnings and ended the week down at $55.34 and that may be another failed break-out attempt on the chart as the year high is $57.10.

Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is supposed to be down and out with absolutely nothing going for it. In fact, its real risk is that no one under 30 or so may ever go there again. Not so fast, according to Credit Suisse as the firm reinstated coverage with an OUTPERFORM rating and with a call of almost 30% upside to its $32.00 price target (versus $28.21 target from Thomson Reuters. This drove shares up 1.7% on Friday when the broad market was down.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK) is the pure-play when it comes to investing in natural gas. It is no secret that nat-gas is in the tank. Apparently J.P.Morgan just couldn’t take the pressure any longer. The analyst team there cut Chesapeake to UNDERWEIGHT on Thursday… That is just a “Sell” masqueraded by vocabulary.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) was given two calls of caution or at least calls with no enthusiasm despite its shares having more than doubled from the lows. Zacks maintained a NEUTRAL rating with a $14.00 target, while the team at Cantor Fitzgerald started it with only a HOLD rating. Both calls came on Wednesday and Wednesday’s was Dendreon’s highest price of the week.

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) is still supposed to be a buyout target according to the great analyst predictions of 2012, even though the company’s review ended with nothing. Earnings stank up the joint and the promise (or forecast) of exceptionally low rates through 2014 offers no comfort for earnings at online brokers. The stock was cut to NEUTRAL at Goldman Sachs this week. Keep in mind that Goldman Sachs was the firm hired to go find a buyer for E*TRADE. Not promising at all.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Analyst Calls, Editor's Picks, Research, The Week Tagged: ADP,, BBY, CHK, DNDN, ETFC, GS, JCP, JEF, JPM, KLAC, KORS, LIFE, MCD, MS, NFLX, T, VPRT, ZNGA

Many More Banks Report Earnings This Week (GS, STT, BK, USB, NTRS, AXP, BAC, MS, COF)

Administrator — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:20:59 +0000

We have already seen the first wave of bank earnings, but the rest of the week is full of bank and financial earnings. In fact, the real bank earnings season is all taking place on Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

We have compiled basic earnings previews and shown Thomson Reuters estimates from the following: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT); Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK); U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB); Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS); American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS); and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF).

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates have been coming down more than just marginally ahead of the expected earnings report. It is no longer expected to have the name “Golden Slacks” attached as a nickname right now. The current target is $1.24 EPS on $6.54 billion in sales, but the earnings targets were above $2.00 EPS recently and the street expected almost $3.00 just about 90 days ago.

State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the consensus estimate for the trust and custodial bank is expected to rise about 8% to $0.94 EPS. Bank Of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) is set to report earnings on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates are $0.53 EPS and $3.75 billion in revenues. We will be waiting to see if any of the charges to trust and custodial customers taking the cash holdings operations to a cost rather than as an interest bearing account will have made a difference. That seems to have gone away but it may have just been lost in the shuffle.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday morning. The estimates are $0.63 EPS on $4.76 billion in sales. Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ: NTRS) is also due Wednesday morning and estimates are $0.68 EPS and $972.3 million.

American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is due on Thursday after the close and earnings estimates are $0.98 EPS and $7.92 billion in sales. As with the rest of the lenders and credit cards, we expect to hear continued improvements in credit metrics regarding the customer base.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is due to report on Thursday morning. The most unpopular of the big ‘too big to fail’ money-center banks in America, has a consensus earnings estimate of $0.23 EPS on $24.08 billion in revenues. This has been the best DJIA stock so far in 2012 even including the last two trading sessions. It is a bit more than just interesting that earnings estimates have ratcheted higher over the last ten days when estimates elsewhere have been cut so much in banking. The huge discount to book value is again likely to be less material than in years passed.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is set to report on Thursday morning as well. Long gone is worrying about the relative book value and long gone is the comparison to Goldman Sachs. Estimates are for a loss at -$0.57 EPS and $5.57 billion in revenues.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) is due to report earning on Thursday and this is the credit card bank “for the rest of America.” The earnings report could be wildly far off of estimates because the bank is in the process of acquisitions which could greatly skew the headline numbers. A fresh SEC filing showed that monthly data showed a continued improvement in default rates and in late payments in December. The consensus estimate is $1.55 EPS and $4.08 billion in sales.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Banking, Brokerage Firms, Calendar, Earnings, Financial Stocks, The Week Tagged: AXP, BAC, BK, COF, GS, MS, NTRS, STT, USB

Major Earnings Previews For The Week Ahead (C, WFC, EBAY, GS, XLNX, AXP, BAC, GOOG, INTC, IBM, ISRG, MSFT, UNH, GE, SLB)

Administrator — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:27:19 +0000

This shortened week is the first week full of many major companies reporting earnings season. We will have a clear direction for the financial leaders and many of the technology leaders after this week is over.

We have many key earnings, including some DJIA components, as follows: Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C); Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC); eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY); Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX); American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM); Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG); Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT); UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH); General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE); and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB).

We have added in Thomson Reuters consensus data, as well as other bits of data and color if applicable.

Tuesday, January 17

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) both lead Tuesday morning off with earnings, and each are important. Wells Fargo is the healthier of the two and it does not trade at a discount to book value like its peers because it is deemed the least penalized of the money center banks in the new lower-trading and less risk environment. Both pulled back after J.P. Morgan earnings, but both were up handily so far this year.

Citi has estimates of $0.49 EPS and $18.54 billion in sales.

Wells Fargo has estimates of $0.72 EPS on $28.08 billion in sales.

Wednesday, January 18

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has a bit of a neutral bias going into Wednesday’s earnings after the close as it is still mostly a domestic story for auctions, with PayPal being the biggest boost. Earnings estimates are $0.57 EPS and $3.32 billion in revenues.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is due on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates have been cratering ahead of the report. The current target is $1.24 EPS on $6.54 billion in sales, but the earnings targets were above $2.00 EPS recently and the street expected almost $3.00 just about 90 days ago.

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, The Week Tagged: AXP, BAC, C, EBAY, GE, GOOG, GS, IBM, INTC, ISRG, MSFT, SLB, UNH, WFC, XLNX

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week (MO, ANGI, AAPL, CIT, GS, GMCR, HUN, KKD, LULU, NOK, SHLD, URBN, VZ, WSM, HOGS)

Administrator — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:35:49 +0000

This was the first week after the holidays and many analyst calls were made this week with updated outlooks for 2012. 24/7 Wall St. saw many influential analyst calls this week with either long term ramifications or which caused big moves in the underlying stocks.

We have covered this in more detailed summaries below, but the following included the top stock upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in this last week: Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO); Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT); Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN); Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. (NYSE: KKD); Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU); Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK); Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD); Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN); Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ); Williams-Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM); and Zhongpin, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOGS).

We have given a summary and notes on each below.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) could be in for a 15% drop now that shares became overvalued per the Barron’s cover story to kick off 2012 and Davenport downgraded the stock also.

Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI) had a rough week after its quiet period ended from its late 2011 IPO. The stock closed out 2011 at $16.10 and ended the week down at $13.23 for a loss of about 18%. Analyst initiation summary as follows:

Neutral with $18 target at BofA/ML;
Sector Perform with $17 target at RBC;
Perform with $16 target at Oppenheimer;
Buy with $22 target at ThinkEquity;
Buy with $21 target at Stifel Nicolaus;
Buy with $19 target at Janney Capital Markets.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may have just been a reiterated call, but this was the $560 price target call from Canaccord Genuity. Apple’s price target was also lowered to $513 from $530 at Morgan Keegan.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was noted as a “if, then” possible takeover candidate in a SunTrust Robinson Humphrey call this week that is frankly hard to agree with.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was among the banking sector downgrades this week, although shares still managed to close on a positive note if you just compare the price to the prior Friday. Meredith Whitney, Wells Fargo, and Credit Suisse all gave negative calls with downgrades or lower sales and earnings.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Research, The Week, Trading Alert Tagged: AAPL, ANGI, CIT, GMCR, GS, HOGS, HUN, KKD, LULU, MO, NOK, SHLD, URBN, VZ, WSM

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week (AVL, BRK-B, CRZO, DPZ, GILD, GT, GOOG, GMCR, HPQ, LULU, RIMM, SINA, WDC)

Administrator — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:31:31 +0000

This last week had some very interesting and influential analyst calls. We compile summaries of many top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations each morning from Wall Street research calls and we then review these at the end of each week. Those calls which stand out the most become the Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades of the Week. This was a wild week and ended up being a massive gainer due to the coordinated central banking efforts meant at keeping liquidity in the capital markets in Europe.

The top calls of the week were seen in the following companies: Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL); Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B); Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO); Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ); Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD); Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ); Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU); Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM); Sina Corporation (NASDAQ: SINA); and Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC).

We have outlined the research summaries here on each, and we have added color or linked to more details on the calls if applicable.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AMEX: AVL) is considered the speculative step child in the field of rare-earth metals. Still, this week came coverage from Citigroup with a “Buy” rating this last Monday. The prior closing price had been $2.63 and the stock ramped mid-week. The high close was $3.34 on Wednesday even though it closed down over 5% on Friday at $3.05. The high close in the week would have given a gain of 27% and the gain for the week was still up 16%. The 52-week range is $2.29 to $10.11, making this a leveraged call with huge upside if things work out at the company.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) very rarely shows up in research calls, so it was a surprise when Zacks came out and named Warren Buffett conglomerate as the Bull of the Day with a $91.00 target for the next six-months.

Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ: CRZO) was only a reiterated Buy rating on Thursday by Canaccord Genuity but the implications offer huge upside if the firm is right. The firm called it a top small cap idea with multiple ways to win and with a “valuation too tepid.” The new $49.00 price target implies upside of 71%.

Domino’s Pizza, Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) was a cautious call because of valuation, but it may offer insight into how much investors should be willing to pay for the pizza delivery leader. The stock was started as Hold at KeyBanc on Friday, which was also the day that this hit a 5-year high. 24/7 Wall St. originally went out with the “buy the value here” call early in 2011 when shares were under $20.00 and we had already taken this one off the list because of value concerns. Friday’s call may point to more and more peak-values here.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, The Week, Value Investing Tagged: AVL, BRK-B, CRZO, DPZ, GILD, GMCR, GOOG, GT, HPQ, LULU, RIMM, SINA, WDC

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (ALU, AMZN, AAPL, CSCO, CSC, CXW, DF, EPD, GNW, GMCR, GRPN, HD, MPEL, PIR, SRDX, TEVA, VRTX, YRCW, ALIM)

Administrator — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 14:19:38 +0000

Each morning 24/7 Wall St. issues a summary list of key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations issued by Wall Street research firms. We review these calls and other calls made throughout the week to see which stand out the most. Some are great calls that were full of insight, while others were total flops. After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.

We had many key calls that stood out this week in shares of the following: Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU); Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN); Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL); Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC); Corrections Corporation of America (NYSE:CXW); Dean Foods Company (NYSE: DF); Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD); Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN); The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD); Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL); Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR); SurModics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX); Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA); Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX); and YRC Worldwide. Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

We have broken each of these calls out and added in color where applicable.

Alcatel-Lucent SA (NYSE: ALU) can’t get off the floor and it keeps disappointing. Shares even closed at $1.99 after seeing a year low of $1.92 on Friday. Alcatel’s chart looks almost the same as the chart of late-2008, but it cannot blame the market this time. We saw three downgrades worth noting this last week: Cut to Sell at Citigroup; Cut estimates and target at Argus; and Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) had two big calls this last week. The main call was on Friday when Nomura issued a very unenthusiastic NEUTRAL rating. The other call came on Thursday when Zacks added it to the STRONG SELL list. With valuations still very high and with profit margins running razor-thin, it seems that at least some caution should prevail unless the holiday season is going to blow the doors of the hinges here.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Research, The Week Tagged: AAPL, ALIM, ALU, AMZN, CSC, CSCO, CXW, DF, EPD, GMCR, GNW, GRPN, HD, MPEL, PIR, SRDX, TEVA, VRTX, YRCW

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (AWK, NLY, ARMH, INTC, BAC, C, JPM, CAT, DAL, DNDN, DMND, HGSI, OPEN, SNDK, VLO, VICL, YRCW)

Administrator — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 11:15:03 +0000

Each morning 24/7 Wall St. issues a list of some of the key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms. We review these and other calls from the week to see which stand out the most. Some are great calls that were greatly insightful. Other calls may be relevant well into the future. And then there are some calls which turned out to be total duds that were very painful for the analysts who made them and to the traders that listened.

After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week. The top analyst calls of the week were in the following stocks: American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK); Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY); ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C); J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM); Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT); Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL); Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN); Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND); Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI); OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN); SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK); Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO); Vical Inc. (NASDAQ: VICL); and YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW).

American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) was down on Friday, but earlier in the week it was added to the #1 Strong Buy List at Zacks. Despite its performance and valuations, we still see this one as a favorable stock for most investment portfolios.

Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) saw shares slide this last week but we had an analyst duel. Wells Fargo raised Annaly to Outperform on Thursday, but Ladenburg Thalmann cut the rating to Neutral from Buy.

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) was given a much better upside call against Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) by BMO Capital Markets mid-week, but this call goes against what the consensus analyst group is calling for. BMO raised ARM to Outperform and simultaneously downgraded Intel to Market Perform in the call.

Banking Sector Alert: On Tuesday afternoon came a bank sector downgrade by S&P Capital IQ, where Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) were both downgraded to “Hold” from “Buy.” On Wednesday morning Credit Suisse actually raised Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) to “Outperform” and it gave a $48 price target.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) was one of the few infrastructure players given a positive call by a new round of research calls by Morgan Stanley this last Wednesday. The firm started Caterpillar with an “Overweight” in a call which was cautious among many infrastructure and farming equipment makers.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, The Week Tagged: ARMH, AWK, BAC, C, CAT, DAL, DMND, DNDN, HGSI, INTC, JPM, NLY, OPEN, SNDK, VICL, VLO, YRCW

Top Earnings & Economic Events In The Week Ahead (PCLN, AONE, ATVI, PAAS, TM, CSCO, CSC, GM, GMCR, M, SLW, MCP, JWN, NVDA, DIS)

Administrator — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:51:33 +0000

Earnings season has peaked, but we still have many key earnings reports and economic events coming in the week ahead. 24/7 Wall St. has featured a calendar with events scheduled all-week on the earnings and economic front.

The earnings previews are as follows: priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN); A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE); Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI); Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS); Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Computer Sciences Corp. (NYSE: CSC); General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM); Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR); Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M); Silver Wheaton Corp. (NYSE: SLW); Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP); Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN); NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA); and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). Earnings estimates are from Thomson Reuters.

For each day of the week we have also added in the key economic events to watch for as well.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7

priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) is expected to report $9.30 EPS and $1.42 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $5.14 EPS and $996.75 million in revenues.

10:00 AM EST Employment Trends Index (October)

3:00 PM EST Consumer Credit (September)

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8

A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is expected to report -$0.38 EPS and $66.3 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are -$0.35 EPS and $84.2 million in revenues.

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is expected to report $0.02 EPS and $558.4 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.53 EPS and $2.1 billion in revenues.

Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) is expected to report $0.78 EPS and $260.8 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.66 EPS and $247.58 million in revenues.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) is expected to report $0.41 EPS and $52 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $1.03 EPS and $66.47 billion in revenues. As a reminder, this will originally be in Yen and the Yen has been at record highs and it could impact the figures.

7:30 AM EST NFIB Small Business Sentiment (October)

4:30 PM EST API Weekly Oil Inventories

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, Economy, The Week Tagged: AONE, ATVI, CSC, CSCO, DIS, GM, GMCR, JWN, M, MCP, NVDA, PAAS, PCLN, SLW, TM

Top 12 Earnings and Economic Events This Coming Week (ADM, DNKN, PFE, GM, F, CMCSA, KFT, QCOM, WFM, AIG, EK, LNKD, SBUX, GMCR, ALU)

Administrator — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:11:58 +0000

Earnings season is still running strong and the economic readings keep coming out as well. As we come to the end of October, there is going to be plenty of news coming down the pipe. We also have plenty of data on the economic front, including a two-day FOMC meeting and the nation’s employment situation. On the earnings front, data is from Thomson Reuters consensus estimates, as is the following current quarter estimate data if and when these companies offer guidance.

There are of course many earnings reports that we have not previewed, but these are some of the top earnings reports we have offered previews for: Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM), Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ: DNKN), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT), Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM), American International Group (NYSE: AIG), Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK), LinkedIn (NYSE: LNKD), Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU). We also have a prior review of the top analyst upgrades and downgrades of the past week.

We have given a breakdown of the data due on each day with earnings and economic releases.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 31

Chicago Purchasing Managers Index at 9:45 AM.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1

Archer Daniels Midland is expected to report $0.67 EPS and $18.93 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.79 EPS and $22.2 billion in revenues.

Dunkin’ Brands is expected to report $0.25 EPS and $159.23 million in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.28 EPS and $158.34 million in revenues. Dunkin will not be a market mover but could influence the horde of IPOs in waiting.

Pfizer is expected to report $0.55 EPS and $16.42 billion in revenues; next quarter estimates are $0.50 EPS and $16.65 billion in revenues.

ISM Manufacturing at 10:00 AM.

Commerce Department’s Construction Spending (September) at 10:00 AM.

Federal Reserve starts two-day meeting on interest rate policy.

Auto sales data for October throughout the day: General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor (NYSE: F).

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, Economy, The Week Tagged: ADM, AIG, ALU, CMCSA, DNKN, EK, F, GM, GMCR, KFT, LNKD, PFE, QCOM, SBUX, WFM

24/7 Wall St. Top Analyst Calls of the Week (AVP, BBBY, FSLR, KND, NFLX, POT, RSH, RGLD, SIRI, S, TLAB, WFM, CSCO, BIDU)

Administrator — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:01:56 +0000

Each morning 24/7 Wall St. issues its list of some of the key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research firms. We review these calls and other calls made throughout the week to see which stand out the most. Some are great calls that were greatly insightful. Other calls may be relevant well into the future, and some calls turn out to be total duds that were very painful for the analysts who made them (and the traders that listened). After reviewing and filtering all of these research reports, we end up with the top analyst calls of the week.

This weeks top analyst calls were in the following stocks: Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP); Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY); First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR); Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND); Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX); Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT); RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH); Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD); Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI); Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S); Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB); and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM).

We have a runner up call in Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and we also have a highlight on Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) despite some valuation concerns.

We have compiled the ratings news and relevant data around the reaction to each or around the implications on each. Color has also been provided if relevant on the name.

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) had an awful post-earnings week due to a drop and due to an SEC investigation. On Friday came news that Citigroup was reiterating a “Buy” rating as the worst is likely price in. The problem is that Citi highlighted more negative than positive and it cut the target to $22 from $29 in the call. Around $19.00, that is not really enough upside even if the stock is now getting “cheap.” Avon was cut to “Neutral” by UBS on Friday.

Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) rarely pulls back very much, Shares were down over 3% on Friday because Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with a quite boring “Underweight” rating. Interesting considering that its client base never spends like there is a recession. On Wednesday Bed Bath & Beyond was reiterated at “Buy” and the target was raised to $70 at Argus.

First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) may have taken more downgrades after its CEO firing/resignation SNAFU, but at least one analyst is defending the position. Argus came out and lowered the price target to $90.00 but the firm is maintaining its “BUy” rating. This one has gotten so ugly that perhaps there is some value. We just hate trying to think about former high-flying stocks as “value” because it means things went really bad. Interestingly enough, shares bounced more than 20% from the lows of the week.

Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: KND) may have been beaten up too much during the malaise around healthcare reimbursement rates. We would caution that earnings are due this coming Thursday (NOV 3). In July this was above $20.00 then the reimbursement rate woes came on at the time as a bad sell-off. Zacks has finally said enough is enough and named it the Value Stock of the Day this last Thursday as the research shop sees this trading well under ten-times next year’s earnings estimates.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Research, The Week Tagged: AVP, BBBY, BIDU, CSCO, FSLR, KND, NFLX, P, POT, RGLD, RSH, S, SIRI, TLAB, WFM